Shadow of Hope
by ShadowAngel23
Summary: After the attack on Mindoir and the loss of their family, Jane Shepard and her sister have only each other to rely on. When Jane decides to leave for the Alliance, Sarah is left to fend for herself. Sarah takes her family's rescue into her own hands, and with the help of an unlikely team, travels to the ends of the galaxy in order to save them.


**Chapter 1: Ashes of despair**

"Do you remember those old vids we used to watch?" I ask, turning to my big sister. She is lying next to me on the hood of her skycar. She rolls over, turning to look me in the eye. Jane has on a simple black dress we bought a few weeks ago. Her long, dark brown hair, so much like mine, flows down a little past her shoulders, bunching up as she rolls.

"You mean the ones of earth before humanity left Earth?"

"Yeah, those."

"Vaguely, why?"

I roll back over so that I'm facing the sky. Millions of white, yellow, and blue lights shine in the night sky.

"I just... feel bad for them. Stuck on one planet, not even sure if they're alone in the universe. For my entire life, the only thing I've ever wanted to do was take a ship and travel the stars with you at my side. We have spent our entire lives on Mindoir, but in a month you'll be moving to Earth."

My entire life has been spent with Jane by my side, I can't imagine life without her. All I know is my life on Mindoir, I've never been anywhere else, especially not without my sister by my side. Tears form, blurring my vision, before sliding down my cheek and impacting against the hood.

"Sarah, I'm sorry," Jane says, placing her arm on mine, warmth radiating from her. "I don't want to leave you, but you know as well as I do that it's time. Sarah, I'm in love. He finally proposed, and I just couldn't say no. Darrel is the only one I have ever loved; I'm not about to let him leave without me."

"I know," I tell her. "It's just hard, watching my big sister leave. I mean, you're only 16, why can't you wait for another year or two before you get married?"

"You know why; we've been over this. He got a job on Earth, making almost triple what he would here. But he won't take the job if I don't go with him. Darrel was so excited when I told him I would move with him; he even bought us a nice little house on Vancouver Island."

We fall into silence, and I take the time to glance around at our familiar surroundings. A field and distant forest stretch out in front of the car, the only lights visible other than the stars are from a distant farmhouse just on the outskirts of the woods. Through the window of the skycar, I can see the colony's main city Calgreen buzzing with activity only a few miles behind us.

A sleek, black, frigate class ship approaches from orbit and heads toward the main colony leaving a blue contrail in its wake. That's strange, I didn't see any ships scheduled for arrival until noon tomorrow. I wonder why it's here…

"I... I just hate that you have to leave, I hate that this tradition of ours will end after today. You know that for the last six years we have come out here every Saturday to watch the ships and stare at the stars?"

"I know. I wish I could stay longer, but it can't wait. I promise that I'll come as often as I can, and once Darrel and I are settled, I'll bring you to visit Earth."

Even though she is two years older than me, we have been best friends for as long as I can remember. Even at school I prefer sitting with just the two of us rather than anyone else my age, and she feels the same way. As we grew out of elementary school and into middle and high school, we grew more similar by the day.

A couple of years ago, we had the great idea to trade places and see if we could fool everyone into thinking we were each other for a day. We traded clothes, went to each other's classes, and just generally acted like each other to see if anyone would notice. Out of everyone we knew –all our friends –only Sarah's boyfriend, Darrel, noticed; we look so much alike that we even fooled our own parents! I am suspicious that they knew from the start, but if they did, they didn't let on.

The only difference between us is our attitude. We can pretend to be each other for a day or two, but eventually our distinct personalities, such as my shyness and her straightforward attitude, shine through and give us away. As alike as we are, we're too different.

Thinking back on those events, and all the trouble we got into, makes me realize just how much I'll miss her. Throughout my entire life she has been at my side, and I at hers. I don't even know what I'll do on my own –without her, I don't have anyone I can rely on.

Pull yourself together, I don't want her thinking I'm just her weak little sister… even though I guess I am. My eyes still filled with tears stirred up from the reminder of how she is about to leave, I let my head rest against the hood before leaning uncomfortably in a sitting position.

As tears continue to patter against the hood, I look over to see Jane staring into the sky, lost in her own thoughts. Before I have the chance to ask what she is thinking about, a light shines to life on my left hand, slowly pulsing. Glancing over, I see a similar light on hers. What the hell? Who would try calling both of us at the same time? Everyone that has our number knows we are always together, so why wouldn't they just call one of us?

As one, we reach over and tap the pulsing yellow light, activating the display on our Omni-tools. On the screen, all that is visible is white static. What the hell?! The only reason I can think of for the static is if the colonies comm system is down, its transceivers destroyed or something.

A voice breaks through, cloaked with static, but still recognizable. "To all colonists... emergency evacua... batarian attack ... no Alliance help..." the sound of automatic gunfire registers through the comm link, and the voice of the colony's leader suddenly cuts out in a scream.

"Sarah, did you hear that?" Jane asks in disbelief. "It sounded like he said we are under attack by batarians!"

"Jane, start the car. If the colony is really under attack, we have to get home and meet up with mom and dad; they'll know what to do. All we have to do is reach them and we'll be safe." We'll be okay, we just have to get home and everything will be alright; this will just turn out to be a joke or something.

We roll off the hood, but before my feet even touch the ground, the shock wave from a nearby explosion throws us off our feet. As we slam to the ground, I stick out my hands, trying to stop my fall. My left hand glances off a sharp rock, causing pain to streak through it and I collapse in a heap on the ground. "Sarah, come on! We have to hurry!" Jane yells, breaking through my shocked pain.

Climbing back to my feet, I run to the car and dive into my seat. The second I'm down, Jane's hands fly over the controls as the car lifts into the air and points toward the colony. "Oh. My. God," Jane whispers, staring at the runes of our beautiful –if simple –colony.

The freighter I spotted earlier hovers over the runes of where the capitol building once stood. The building must have taken the explosion head on, the only thing that remains is a statue of earth, and as we watch, a smaller missile streaks from the ship and reduces the statue to little more than vapor.

The rest of our proud colony isn't faring much better either. While the ship focused on the capital building, hundreds of batarians swarm through the city. As we watch, a group of batarians come across a human family trying to get to their skycar. A little boy no older than 6 years old runs toward the batarians, a small stick clenched in his hand. As his parents scream for him, the batarian's cold four eyes don't even flinch as they mercilessly open fire. The child falls to the ground, limp and lifeless. How could they... How could they just murder a little kid like that? Is it all batarians in general, or just these specific ones that have no morals against murdering the defenseless? Against brutally tearing the life from children?

"Jane..." I say, unbidden tears flooding my eyes as I watch the batarian assholes who murdered a little kid take the sobbing parents by gunpoint into a transport. "Jane, we have to go. Come on, we have to get home."

My big sister just sits beside me, staring blankly at the child's body. My words fall flat, and I give up trying to speak. She sits there, just staring for what feels like hours. "Sarah…" she finally says, her voice low and distant as though she is afraid the sound of her voice might wake the boy.

"I know," I tell her, my voice sounding distant, as though it's not even me speaking. I have to force the words past my trembling lips, "But we can't help, we can't do anything. We have to get home, we have to make sure our family is still safe."

She nods solemnly before turning to the controls and heading home. Through the mirror, I can see Batarians lining up several people and executing them, while the rest of the humans are herded into transports which head for the freighter.

* * *

We are only five minutes from our house when a transport flies past us unloading a torrent of machinegun fire into our car. Jane taps one of the controls, making the car spin and managing to avoid the majority of the shots, though several still find their way to the engine, just barely avoiding actually hitting us.

"Shit! Those fucking assholes, this was a new car!" My sister yells pissed, not seeming to realize –or care –about just how close we were to being shot.

As our engine catches on fire and we lose altitude, the ship doesn't even slow down, it just continues along its path… toward our house. Panic floods through me and the smell of smoke reaches my nose. We can't beat them; our family is there waiting for us, and we can't get to them in time. "Jane, do something! They're heading straight for our house! Our family is in there!"

The batarians are heading straight for our house, and I'm sure our family is still there waiting for us. We have to do something. There has to be something we can do to help.

"I know!" she yells, hands flying over the controls trying to keep us in the air, even as we inevitably lose altitude and fall towards the ground. "I'm trying! Call them, tell them to leave, tell them to hide, tell them… I don't know! Just get them out of there!"

I quickly tap the power button on my Omni-tool and hit the command to call dad. An error alert pops up on the screen instead of the usual 'call connecting', it displays 'call cannot connect, please try again later'.

"Damn it!" I yell, frustrated. "The comms must still be down or something; I can't get through! Jane—" I turn to look at her, surprised by how determined she appears to be, "What… what do we do?"

"I don't know! Just keep trying, maybe we'll get lucky. I have to concentrate, one wrong move and we crash in a burning wreck; so just figure it out!" My sister's voice snaps out like a whip, practically cutting me.

Shocked by her snappy attitude, I hesitate for a few seconds before retrying the call. Why am I so surprised though? With everything that has been happening I would probably actually be more surprised if she was completely calm.

The display still shows "call cannot connect:, but before I can try for a third time, Jane gives a frustrated yell. Glancing up from my Omni-tool, I can see our house only a few kilometers away, but the batarian's ship beat us to it. Their ship lands close to the house and several dozen disembark and head towards our home.

The ground, only a few feet below us, suddenly slams into the bottom of the car and the rocky terrain our house was built on covers it from view. "Damn it!" Jane yells before turning to me. "The car's dead; we're gonna have to go the rest of the way on foot."

She taps a button and the doors lift open. My sister climbs out, with me hot on her heels as we grab what little belongings we had from the back and head toward the house.

* * *

For the entire duration of the walk, I try calling home, but to no avail. We round the last bend before our house just in time to see the batarians ship's doors slide closed and it lift off the ground. As it flies away, I get a short glimpse of the name scrawled in black across its hull, the 'Sombra del Infierno'.

"The Shadow of Hell?" Jane whispers, just barely loud enough for me to make out. I simply shake my head and slowly start the trek toward our big, old looking, faded white house. The ship leaving can only mean one of three things; one: they couldn't find anything in the house and were called away; two: something scared them off; or lastly three: they found exactly what they were looking for –my family –and took or killed them.

Praying it was one of the first two, but knowing in my heart that it was probably the last, I approach the house just in front of my sister. As we near the flaky-white pillars holding the porch up I see the front door smashed to pieces, just barely hanging on its hinges, and a black shape huddled just through the threshold. I glance away from the door and at the garage hoping to see the car gone, but what little hope I had retained of them getting away is sitting in the garage, fire pouring from the interior of the car and licking at the garage walls.

Jane finally notices the shape huddled just through the door and rushes towards it, not even noticing when I stumble and fall over something imbedded in the road. Her pained scream fills the air as I glance back at what I tripped over. The body of a batarian lies dead, a dark blood red hole in his armor, eyes frozen in shocked surprise.

There is only one way for him to have died like that, and Jane's scream confirms my worst fear. "DAD! Oh God, Dad! NO! No, no, no, no, no… this can't be happening, not now, not you. Dad, please, just open your eyes, please dad, just…"

Her voice fades, as does everything else around me. My heart thuds deafeningly in my ears, my breathing rasps and catches in my throat, even the ground screams in protest as the sunny world darkens and I fall.

The funny thing about hope and optimism is, it sneaks up on you, and then, when it is needed most, it is destroyed like a pane of glass falling from a roof; shattering what little hope you managed to attain into millions of shards, each one furrowing deep cuts into your body and soul. It is something you can't prepare for, something you can't prevent no matter how hard you try.

An arm slides around my neck, pulling me into a strangle hold. What the shit?! I lash out with my arms and feet, kicking and hitting my assailant before a piece of cold metal is jammed against the side of my head. The force of the hit brings even more tears to my eyes and a headache starts to form. No… it can't be.

"One more move and I pull the trigger. You're a pretty little girl, for a human. It would be a shame for me to ruin that pretty face of yours. Now tell your friend over by the door to slowly walk towards us." A deep, strained voice growls in my ear. The gun still jammed against my head, I finally realize what is happening. Some batarians stayed behind, hoping to catch us by surprise and force us to surrender.

Wait… he told me to get my friend to walk over to us, which means he is probably alone. He has a gun to my head, and I don't doubt he'll pull the trigger if I warn my sister, but I'm not going to become a slave, and I'm not going to let my sister become one, for this fucking animal! They killed my family; I'm not about to let them kill my sister.

With my mind made up to fight him and give Jane a chance to escape I get ready to tell her to run, but the words die before leaving my mouth, barely making a whisper too quiet for my captor to hear. With the gun digging painfully into the side of my head and a headache starting to form, I can think of only one thing; I don't want to die.

I only turned fourteen last month, the rest of my life is still before me, and I can't just die. Would being a slave really be all that bad? Maybe I could escape? Maybe my mom is alive and we could break out together? Maybe the Alliance will rescue us? Maybe, maybe, maybe. I look up, past the burning garage, past the door, and straight at my sister kneeling limply on her knees holding our dads hand with one of hers, the other hand hidden in front of her.

No. I won't, I can't risk it. If it was just me I would let them take me, but I have to look out for my big sister; I can't risk her becoming a slave too.

"What the fuck are you waiting for? Call her already," the batarian orders, digging the gun harder against my head.

"Are… are…" I stop before trying a different way to say the question burning through me. "Did you kill everyone here? Is my entire family dead?" I whisper to him, too quietly for my sister to hear.

The batarian seems a little taken aback by my question but regardless, he answers, "No. Our orders are to take everyone alive if we can. Anyone that tries to fight however is fair game. That man –I assume he is your father?" He pauses and waits for my nod before continuing. "Your father tried to fight, he shot my partner. We had to kill him, but as for the rest of your family, both the young boy and adult woman were taken to our ship. If you and your sister come quietly, you may even see them again."

They… they're alive? If I get on the ship, maybe I can… no. What good would I be able to do locked up with the rest of them? I need to get away, both of us do, and we have to warn the Alliance, we have to tell them which ship to look for. I know he is only telling me this to make me go quietly with him, but there is no reason for him to lie.

Smoke fills my nose, and I turn to see the fire –which started at the family car –spreading from the garage and starting to burn its way into the house.

Determination grips me like a vise, if there was anything he could have said to make me want to kill him more, I can't think of it, and now with the fire encroaching on her, I can't afford to wait any longer. "JANE, RUN!" I scream, elbowing the batarian bastard in the face.

My captor grunts in surprised pain, but recovers quicker than I thought possible. He backhands me, the force of the hit throwing me to the dirt ground and blurring my vision. "You little bitch; you'll pay for that!" The batarian threatens, leveling his pistol at me.

There is no way… he wouldn't, right? A finger flicks off the gun safety and tightens around the trigger.

"Sarah!" my sister screams. A loud explosion fills my ears, making them ring painfully for several long seconds afterwards. Fiery pain explodes through my chest, and my head slams against the ground. He… he actually shot me?

Closely following a second shot, I hear a thud behind me. I can only manage to slightly turn my head, but I am able to see what made the sound; the body of the batarian soldier –armed with a pistol –lies beside me, a small hole directly in the center of his four eyes.

Footsteps grow louder as someone rushes over to me and drops to their knees. A glowing orange hand –or more specifically, a hand with an Omni-tool activated –waves over my stomach and immediately the pain fades, with icy numbness taking its place.

A warm hand joins my own, and my sister appears above me, our father's pistol tightly clenched in her free hand. "Jane, they're alive…" I manage to whisper, fighting to stay awake. "They're aliv…" The void claims me for its own, and I sink into the depths of darkness.

* * *

A/N

Hello everyone, and welcome to Shadow of Hope. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter in this new series. I would like to thank AirPowerST and Emily Caine (Emily Caine on fictionpress) for all their help writing this. Just so you are aware, I am a really slow writer, but I do the best I can. I hope you will have the patience to stick with me and follow this till the end. If you can see anything I could be doing better, or if you think of a different way to take it please review or send me a message, any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

As for my other story, it's not cancelled, but I have to re-write a bunch after my old laptop died, so it's on pause for a little bit; and to be honest, this story has been much more fun to write anyway. But I promise I'll update both as often as possible.

For this series, I'm venturing into completely new territory, almost none of the events I write shown in game except the very beginning (and only as a brief choice/dialogue). If you're looking for an 'on cannon' story, than this isn't for you.

Below are a few songs that helped me write this, and that gave me ideas.

Amnesia- miracle of sound

Welcome to the Family – avenged sevenfold

Unwritten- Natasha Bedingfield

All copy-write items (as shown in game, or books) is not mine, I am simply borrowing them, so please don't sue me. This will only show up this one time, and it applies to the entire story.


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